book: Peckinpah: THE WESTERN FILMS--A RECONSIDERATION (Illini books)

book: Peckinpah: THE WESTERN FILMS--A RECONSIDERATION (Illini books) | Paul Seydor

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	• Peckinpah: THE WESTERN FILMS--A RECONSIDERATION (Illini books) Paul Seydor University of Illinois Press, 1999 - 440 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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A thoughtful, intellegent look at an underrated director

This is, quite simply, the finest book on film theory and analysis that I have ever read. I am a great admirer of Peckinpah's work, especially his westerns, so I am very happy to see a serious consideration of his work. Mr. Seydor writes with great insight, intellegence, and with a thorough understanding of this neglected and under-appreciated director. Too many people identify Sam Peckinpah as a director of blood and guts movies containing violence for the sake of violence. Mr. Seydor shows the themes and emotions that saturate Peckinpah's work and tells us that this is a director of immense talent and passion. He also lets you know that he directed other westerns besides "The Wild Bunch". I hope that someday Mr Seydor will write a book about Peckinpah's non-western films as well. But in the mean time, this book is perfect for movie addicts like myself, but is also very accessable to the casual film fan as well.

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This is the book that re-established Peckinpah's reputation - now thoroughly revised and updated! When critics hailed the 1995 re-release of Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece, "The Wild Bunch", it was a recognition of Paul Seydor's earlier claim that this was a milestone in American film, perhaps the most important since "Citizen Kane". "Peckinpah: The Western Films" first appeared in 1980, when the director's reputation was at low ebb. The book helped lead a generation of readers and filmgoers to a full and enduring appreciation of Peckinpah's landmark films, locating his work in the central tradition of American art that goes all the way back to Emerson, Hawthorne, and Melville. In addition to a new section on the personal significance of "The Wild Bunch" to Peckinpah, Seydor has added to this expanded, revised edition a complete account of the successful, but troubled, efforts to get a fully authorized director's cut released.He describes how an initial NC-17 rating of the film by the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board nearly aborted the entire project. He also adds a great wealth of newly discovered biographical detail that has surfaced since the director's death and includes a new chapter on "Noon Wine", credited with bringing Peckinpah's television work to a fitting resolution and preparing his way for "The Wild Bunch". This edition stands alone in offering full treatment of all versions of Peckinpah's Westerns. It also includes discussion of all fourteen episodes of Peckinpah's television series, "The Westerner", and a full description of the versions of "Pat Garrett" and "Billy the Kid" now (or formerly) in circulation, including an argument that the label 'director's cut' on the version in release by Turner is misleading. Additionally, the book's final chapter has been substantially rewritten and now includes new information about Peckinpah's background and sources.

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